Brick walls

Trauma Columnist · Mar 23, 2010

Good question!

First, I'm not a CRNA. However, I did shadow 3 CRNAs for a day. It was soooo boring and I found that I couldn't sit still long enough. The CRNAs were wonderful, explaining things, etc., and they all seemed extremely organized.

I realized it was not a good fit because my nursing background is level one trauma center and I just love chaos and though I'm very organized, I am able to change priorities very quickly and love the "not knowing what is going to come thru the door" mentality.

So...this was my though process when I was deciding which direction to go.

I ended up with an MSN in management and leadership and did a post-MSN adult health CNS and am currently finishing up another post-MSN peds CNS. I work full time in a nephrology practice and prn in an ER.

allnurses Guide · Mar 23, 2010

Every field has people who seem undeterred to heed the warnings that their career path is not a good fit. In my current (almost prior!) field, I can name several people who really were not cut out for our profession, but keep trying, and failing. These people can't seem to take a hint? Isn't there a fine line between tenacity and ignorance? "Everyone" wants to be a CRNA, but few do it. Why? What are the brick walls? Lastly, what are some of the brick walls or obstacles that really SHOULD deter someone from pursuing nurse anesthesia?
You should just stop now if (fill in the blank)

You need to function well in a team, but still be able to think/act independently or be the leader of the team when it matters. Some people think their critical thinking skills are great because they worked at X or Y place in some high acuity ICU etc., but when you take them out of that environment they suddenly can't adapt, and make bad decisions no matter how much training they get.

I often thought being a CRNA would be very boring, but being a CRNA is very intellectual job (not that other APN jobs aren't). When you are a CRNA though a lot of what goes on is in your mind. For example: I might give 5-6+ different meds IV push on induction, but each one of them has contraindications/side-effects, and will act differently when combined different ways or with different dosages. There might be dozens of things that you have to take in account all while making split second decisions, but most of it just becomes second nature for some people while others it just never clicks.

Another factor that I think bothers some people is that you have to stop thinking like a nurse. Our roles as CRNAs are totally different. This sounds easy, but the longer you have been a nurse I think the harder it is to get away from the nursing model and move towards more of medical model.

Finally, everyone sees the salaries that CRNAs have the potential to make (I say potential because I don't make anywhere near the average CRNA salary), but very few nurses have the motivation or potential in some cases to actually follow through with CRNA school. I used to think that anesthesia providers were so laid back and nice from my interactions with them in PACU and ICU.....boy was I wrong...you will never meet a more intellectual, anal, and sometimes (in a very few that you have to work with as an SRNA) downright nasty group of individuals. We all know surgeons can be jerks, but some anesthesia providers take the cake. That goes for anesthesiologists and CRNAs.